She went to close the door again. I blocked it with my foot this time. “But I just have to ask you something,” I said, feeling despera te. Like I had some kind of ticking clock behind me. “What?” “You’re not gonna show that video to Ally, are you? The one with her dad?” I asked. She laughed. “Y ou are unbelievable.” “What? I just . . . don’t think she should find out that way,” I said, my face hot. “Think about it. If you were her, would you want to find out that way?” She narrowed her eyes again, still holding on to the door. “No. I wouldn’ t.” “Good, so just . . . don’t. I think if he wants to see them, he’ll go see them. It’ s none of our business.” As I said the words, I suddenly felt very confident about them. It didn’t matter that I knew what I knew. It wasn’t my place or Shannen’ s or anyone else’s to tell Ally. This was her family’s thing. If we got in volved, things would just get messy. As long as I could ensure Shannen would stay quiet, I knew I could ke ep my mouth shut too. We’d just wait it out, and eventually Ally’s dad would come around and get in touch. He’d have to, right? “) ine,” she said. “I won’t tell her anything.” There was something hard and final about her face as she looked at me. “Are we done here?” I moved my foot out of the way of the door, feeling lighter somehow . Shannen wasn’ t going to tell Ally , which meant I didn’ t have to tell Ally . “You sure you don’ t want to go for a drive?” She rolled her eyes one last time and slammed the door in my face.
a p r i l
Do you have a date for the pr om yet? What? It’ s over a month away . Why? Do people alr eady have dates? Um, yeah! Josh Schwartz asked Melissa Ferr eti in homer oom this morning, and now everyone’ s asking everyone. Connor Shale’ s going with Shannen Moor e . . . Chad Lancaster asked Lisa Rinaldi. . . . Ohmigod. Who am I gonna go with? Has Jake asked anyone yet? Ohmigod. Jake Graydon is my dream date. Well, maybe you should ask him. Please. And be that pathetic? If you don’ t do it, someone else will. That boy will be snapped up befor e thir d period. Ohmigod. This is so str essful. I’m going to the nurse. If you do, you might miss your chance. And then you’ll be stuck at the dance babysitting some dude fr om St. Mark’ s who you don’ t even know just because you’r e vague Facebook friends and ther e was no one else left. I loathe the pr om.
I grinned to myself when I heard her footst eps coming down the hall. She started to pass me, and I reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Jake! What are you doing?” “This.” I pulled her to me and kissed her, cupping the back of her head with my hand. Ally giggled and melted into me, her whole body melding with mine. Two seconds later , though, she pulled away . “We can’t do this. W e’re so gonna get caught.” But her hands were on my chest and she was blushing like crazy. She bit her bottom lip, and I almost died. “No one ever comes into this hall at lunch,” I said, glancing at the door to Barry’s Custodians Only closet. Ally looked up and laughed. “This is kind of our place,” she joked. “Where it all began,” I joked back, tugging her to me with my arms around her waist. It wasn’t exactly true. It had begun at my house that day back in August. But it was those detentions that had forced us to actually talk. That was where I’d really started to like her. Not just daydream about her. I leaned in and touched my lips to hers, giving her a long, slow kiss. When I broke it of f, her eyes stayed closed and her head tipped back. “You really want to go back to the cafeteria?” I whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear with my fingertips. I could practically hear her heart pounding. Or maybe that was mine. “Mm mm,” she said, shaking her head. “Good.” So we stood there kissing without a single breath for air, until the bell rang and we finally had to wake up.